he's been cultivating the image that he
is like the philosopher king of the
right you know that he has all the ideas
and I don't think it's about ideas for
him what comes first is definitely just
throwing down and winning
[Music]
today we're going to go through a scene
from the film and kind of break it down
and see how Bannon operates no one can
ever really have full access but I had a
really good range of his activities I
spend a lot of time not just at his
house in DC but also in the car rides on
the private plane rides my goal was not
for him to fully see me but for me to
fully see him number one politics is a
game to him and he puts winning above
values a controversial judge running for
Senate I believe in the Second Amendment
Alabama's Roy Moore he's accused of
sexually assaulting a fourteen-year-old
girl years ago at least nine women
accused more of wrongdoing and of course
Steve Bannon is sticking with Roy Moore
when the sexual assault allegations came
out against Roy Moore from multiple
women Bannon just didn't back down at
all if anything his glee in supporting
Roy Moore just got louder frankly Bannon
maintained that he didn't even believe
any of the allegations he had very
little evidence to prove that it's kind
of more about the way he plays the game
of politics and to him doubling down is
the path to victory and so I think he
was able to keep a lot of people in
support of Roy Moore not because he said
who cares if he did this but he just
blatantly said this didn't happen the
main thing you have to do is support the
President and you have to support Trump
Roy Moore's campaign would have looked a
lot different and I think the coverage
would have looked a lot different if
Bannon wasn't supporting him I think Roy
Moore is the guy that's going to
represent Donald Trump and fight the
establishment number two he embraces
retail politics the style of politics
where you're going to small events
you're meeting people face to face you
know you're shaking hands you're having
conversations the citadel is a military
school in South Carolina this is an
annual Republican Society fundraiser and
they are honoring vannin tonight with a
patriot award
thank you I was constantly surprised in
my time with him that so many people
wanted to take photos with him to me it
was just so shocking given what bannon's
reputation was certainly in on the left
and I think that this isn't just about
you know ego and vanity but it's also he
really does understand that this kind of
retail politics and interacting with
people face to face has currency retail
politics was also an effort not just to
rally the troops but to give him a name
brand as well I also think that is a
gateway to listening to what he has to
say next maybe to taking another look at
something that he has on Breitbart if
you aren't already someone who reads it
I also love this scene because of the
you know his dad joke about you know a
rose between two thorns right in the
middle rose between two thorns I'm a
different generation than him but to me
it's also this weird thing that like it
was always about the woman in the
picture there's not like a specific
malice or anything in it but to me
that's really telling to the idea like
anytime he's in a photo with someone
clearly he's like oh who's the woman
who's the man I wish put the rose
between the two thorns I don't know if
every filmmaker would pick up on that
but I think because of who I am that was
something that kind of struck me as
worth including number three he promotes
conspiracies is it just a coincidence
that the bees owes Amazon Washington
Post did the Billy Bush hit there are a
lot of conspiracy theories that are
popular in our politics today and what I
saw was that Bannon does nothing to
dispel them and and often leans into
them when confronted with questions
about conspiracies like George Soros is
funding the caravan and antifa
he's totally willing to traffic in that
kind of conspiracy theory and they did
the hit on judge Moore yeah just a
complete random thing in the universe in
private moments he indicated that he did
believe many of them in the end it
doesn't matter what he does believe or
doesn't believe all that matters is what
he does and he's absolutely willing to
let these conspiracy theories blossom if
it helps him Bannen for better or worse
is not only just the authority figure in
the room here he's associated with the
highest office in the land and for him
to be promoting these ideas I think
that's clearly damaging to the public
and I think it's the other part of this
which is him encouraging people to
distrust the media in general is very
very dangerous
number four he sews doubt in the media
and facts bazo's amazon washington post
a big part of his message is to tell his
supporters that the media is the
opposition party and that they shouldn't
trust what they read and this seems to
me like not only one of the most
damaging but really one of the most
hypocritical and you know potentially
outright manipulative I think this one
is so damaging because it's working our
society is increasingly
devided if you're told you know that
there's entire sources of information
that you just can't trust which by the
way but sometimes you can sometimes you
can't I just think that is tearing the
fabric of society this idea of Billy
Bush weekend I was there on Billy Bush
Billy Bush weekend when that video came
out this is the way he refers to the
weekend when the Access Hollywood tapes
dropped where you hear Trump talking
about you know grabbing women by the
and for him it's Billy Bush
weekend he talks about it as a hit on
Trump and there's a hit on Roy Moore and
the hit isn't coming necessarily from
political rivals he ties it to the Jeff
Bezos Amazon Washington Post it's a very
pointed way to talk about a website in
terms of who owns it and in this case
it's very much trying to imply a much
larger conspiracy number 5 he creates an
in-group identity from this vantage
point where I ended up choosing to shoot
the the whole speech the atmosphere was
like a comedy club they were really
vibing off of that language he was using
in the mainstream media and the
mainstream media
[Applause]
hang on hang on hang on I can thank one
of my ex-wives for showing up and all it
is is dabbling in identity and culture
and he's trying to remind them of we're
the ones that had a great victory
you know when Trump won and I think you
can see how effectively he fostered this
we're all one team we're all in it
together kind of feeling in the room
when this solitary protester steps up
and starts yelling people are really
vocal hissing Bannon himself is just
standing quietly he's got everyone on
his side and I was really shocked at how
intensely they were against her what he
does is not just to move on it's not
like to rise above it it's like a
comedian giving it back to a heckler I
think one of my ex-wives for showing up
and he is using a lot of the things in
his toolkit to create this in-group
identity to bring people on his side to
use humor to make them like him you can
see the guy in the bottom left of the
screen he was just like boy he's
terrific like what a great speaker he
had clearly exceeded whatever his
expectations were Bannon talks a lot in
the film about wanting to convert people
I think in here he's he's winning
converts and all of the tools that we
have been talking about or part of the
recipe for that creating an in-group
identity isn't necessarily on its own a
bad thing but when part of that is
promoting conspiracy theories and not
minding about promoting hate or assault
of women or not believing women or
misogyny when values are secondary to
creating that in-group I think that
that's where it gets really dangerous
got the right for free speech outside I
made this movie with a deep sense of
responsibility people can debate the
ways in which he personally has
succeeded or failed but I think what's
important to take away is that he's
working hard at it and
it's not him alone as a force in the
world
he has supporters he has benefactors and
as much as I'm here breaking down some
things you can learn about Bannon it's
more about what we can learn about all
of us and where we're headed